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Duct Tape Goes Minature
metal_llama writes "There is a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about a man, Christopher Blummel, who "has a vision for a better world - one where every man would carry in his wallet a small cellophane packet containing a product that can come in handy in an emergency. Duct tape." This is exactly what I've always wanted: an ever-handy supply of duct tape."
In their duct tape wallet?
In Soviet Russia, ducts tape you!
Is it just me, or did this guy just watch an episode of Macguyver and go "Hey..."
That being said i'll bet Richard Dean Anderson's ex-mullet is turning in his grave.
Cogito Eggo Sum, I think therefore I'm a waffle
My old childhood hero MacGyver has defeated entire armies with just a swiss army knife and duct tape.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
I'm not sure what I'm more speechless about. That this guy got a patent, or that this made Slashdot.
"Duct tape is a lot like the Force... It has a dark side, it has a light side, and it binds the galaxy together...."
I can't remember who said that but man is it funny.
-Skrud
Duct tape is great stuff, if only because no othery type of tape is as strong, and I can really understand the need to carry it around for unexpected situations, but at the price he's trying to get for it, there's no way it'll catch on.
Of course, provided he wasn't granted a patent for it, 3-rd parties should be imitating it in no time, and selling it for a fraction of the cost.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
...is there really a need for this? I keep a roll or two of the regular stuff in my car in case something falls off and I need to re-affix it, but do I really need to carry this stuff around like a condom? (obligatory geek remark: not that most of slashdot's readers need condoms, mind you, but still.)
Rushing toward Entropy one iteration at a time.
If you can't duck it, f..k it.
A year or so ago we got a new clothes dryer and my wife gave me the job of connecting it to the existing ducting that exhausts the dryer air from the laundry to the outside world.
:-)
I sat down for a while and contemplated how I might make up an adapter flange to join the old ducting (4 inch diameter) to the new dryer (3.5" diameter).
After several hours walking around the workshop checking to see if I had enough metal and gas to weld up a flange, I spied the obvious -- my roll of duct tape.
Suffice to say that's the first (and it'll probably be the last) time I've ever used duct tape for taping up ducting.
Most of the time I use it to hold the gaping wounds together so they don't bleed to bad after a day in teh workshop. (Why are so many tools so sharp?
This is simultaneously both the most pointless and the coolest post ever to be on the front page.
"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
Red Green would be proud.
They forgot, however, to include in the instruction manual that it should NOT be used in conjunction with transmission fluid. You need the optional "baling wire add-on kit" to pull that off.
"Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke
they can at least find you handy. Right? Or did I fall asleep while watching the Red Green show, and am now dreaming of the Red Green /. show? Quick, call Rothschild's Sewage and Septic Sucking Service, and get rid of all the trolls!
*GRIN*
Lemon curry?
So if the terrorists attack when you're on the go, you can simply duct-tape yourself into the nearest phone booth.
-a
His wallet also comes with a plastic tent, opens his wallet, pushes a button and *whala*, an inflatable plastic tent (with it's own air supply) - Go Go Gadget-Biological safe egloo
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
Duct tape and WD-40.
If it does move, but it shouldn't, you use the duct tape. If it doesn't move, but it should, you use the WD-40.
What's this guy going to come up with next, a miniature spray can of WD-40?
Sorry!
Litigious bastards
I thought they just eat some donuts, laugh with eachother how stupid it is (if they actually read it, anyway), stamp approval, and collect the application fee?
for fuck's sakes man, just bring some bandaids if you need tape - at least you can use them on yourself, aside from posting presentations on the wall.
urgh. products designed by sales people. sigh...
My life in the land of the rising sun.
Because of the threads, you can tear a wide piece to be as narrow as you need.
http://yetanotherpoliticalrant.blogspot.com
I don't know about the rest of you, but with respect to Douglas Adams, I for one plan on keeping mine next to my towel :)
Understanding is a three edged sword. - Ambassador Kosh Naranek, Babylon 5
If anyone claims a patent on this, I've got witnesses that I've been doing this for years.
Sig:Why copyright isn't a fundamental human right
Thanks for the Duck Tape Uncle Sam!
www.bannination.com Two things float to the top he
I don't recall that I've ever owned or used a roll of duct tape. The stuff is a cludge, and there's almost always a better way to do something: glue, rope, wire, nails, rivets.
I just don't go for the cludgy/temporary fix; I'd rather take a few extra minutes and do it right. Duct tape is sticky, leaves a resudue, fails in high heat, deteriorates quickly and smells funky.
I still don't understand why it's called "duct tape" when ducting is the one thing you DON'T want to use it for.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
Here's the link to what you're thinking of: http://www.duckproducts.com/products/detail.asp?ca tid=1&subid=1&plid=8
Guess that guy is SOL...prior art and all.
'Aikanaka...
You never know when you need to gag someone.
I mean some people, just talk and talk and they can't shut up. It's not like everybody has the time and patience to listen to someone just rumble about something or other of no interest. It's even worse when they start detouring from the subject of the whole thing like some 1950's valvule computer with one too many holes in the punch-card, i mean those things must have been a pain to program and all. Not to mention they were big. And hot. Which reminds me of that time i is was driving my van on the highway and *shraaap* *oooo* *oooo*
I gets used as actual human skin as a matter of fact.
If you ever watch a 100K marathon, you'll see that, by 1/4 through, just about everyone has duct tape covering their feet. This is due to the blisters that have formed on their feet after rubbing against their shoes for so long.
Yes, duct tape is a quick, strong, and painless skin graft.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Generally when I find I need duct tape, I'm gonna need more than I'd be able to fit in my wallet...
But I guess some duct tape is better than no duct tape, right?
too late, there already is such thing: http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html
I almost never keep duct tape around. Because while it might seem like the appropriate thing for a temporary fix, it leaves behind such a messy glue residue when you're ready for the permanent fix that it often does more damage than good.
In general when something has been repaired with duct tape, it indicates an amateur has been at work maintaining it. Equipment at yard sales, etc. which have anything resembling duct tape attached should be avoided at all cost.
Black electrical tape is much the same. Nobody with an interest in quality regarding electronics uses it for anything. Like it says in Horowitz and Hill, black electrical tape is strictly amateur. Use Heat Shrink Tubing.
Backpackers have been doing this for years. Just wrap a couple of feet of duck tape around a pencil or straw and put it in your repair kit. I'm always looking for items that can be used for more than one purpose, but I won't be buying this dude's "invention.
Who or what authority has control over our patent office? Maybe Congress? I don't know, but this crap with patenting the obvious has to end.
The sad thing is that there are a lot of people out there who will buy anything. I've even seen shareware that does the exact same thing your operating system already does. And people buy it! Go figure.
I wouldn't mind having a wallet-sized strip of duct tape
But i'd save it for events when i can't bring my Backpack, which has the full roll in it.
No, duct tape is not suitable for every job. However, I'm in Boston and was there for the fireworks last night with 2 plastic chairs, 2 ordinary (small) umbrellas, one roll of duct tape, and a 6'x4' piece of cloth, and we were one of the only groups not getting torched by the sun as we staked out our spot on the esplanade. And A lot of people had duct tape envy, but we're nice, and we share. The glue rubbed right off the metal and plastic surfaces.
There are, as noted in other posts, a LOT of places not to use duct tape, and one of them is any situation involving heat. Or ducts, for that matter. But another is any place that you need a real, permanent solution. (stress on the word need. If you need a permanent fix on something in the home, fix it right the first time. But the best use i've recommended it for on a short term basis is rodent control- in the sense that is someone before you got to the building left gaping holes next to the pipes, cover them with duct tape until i can get to them. We have well-sealed hardwood floors, the glue will come off when we're done, and i can't be everywhere at once. If they can't find a way in- and the least folks can do is close off the obvious- i buy time to get to the store and get supplies.
(and for that crack about women and wingnuts, well, may you end up making a comment like that at 4 in the morning by the side of the road when a female mechanic is your only hope... )
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
3M has recently come out with Transparent Duct Tape. I haven't repaired anything with it yet, but it looks and feels like a big roll of medical tape.
This stuff is better than Transparent Aluminum!
Here's a link to 3M's website: http://www.3m.com/us/office/scotch/transducttape/
...is that the geeks carry duck/duct tape in their wallets, and the swingers carry a condom.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
I tend to have a roll of duct tape handy where ever I am. I have a roll that I generally keep in my truck, and often in my backpack. If I go camping, I might as well bring a roll or bring no tape at all. If I'm anywhere else (ie: the city), I couldn't imagine being more than 5 minutes from a roll of tape - because I've got a roll at home, in my truck, or in my backpack (which comes everywhere with me.) Except maybe an airplane... I was going through security once, and they wouldn't let me take my roll on the plane - it can be used as a restraining device. I asked them if they wanted my shoe laces too.
"...a radiator leak on Highway 80 heading out to Moline..."
He should have a roll of tape in his trunk to begin with.
"...presentations where I needed to put something on a wall."
Briefcase or backpack. A roll of tape is just another piece of equipment you should be toting around with the rest of your presentation materials and hardware.
Really, for the price, it's a waste of money. If you really want to carry miniscule amounts of tape around then buy a roll and put a few strips on some wax paper.
-kidlinux.
It was stretchy, self-sealing, could form sterility-preserving seals. It was acid/base/alcohol/corrosive-resistant, we used it to wrap bottletops before placing them in the autoclave, and god knows how hot it got in there. Heck, we used it to seal unfinished beers.
I actually took to carrying around a few sheets of it with me everywhere, and I undoubtedly found uses for them. I took a few sheets with me to summer camp, and on the night of the big bonfire, the bigger (and less geeky) children swooped down upon the field and managed to snag all of the long sticks for marshmallow-toasting. After 20 minutes of scavenging, all I could find were a small pile of 6-inch-ish twigs. Parafilm to the rescue! I bound these twigs together into a trifurcated, flame-resistant monstrosity that noone could argue with. Sadly enough, my popularity was not much improved by this feat.
Appreciating the merits of duct tape may have been a clever observation once (e.g. in the 70's, it wasn't carried in all hardware stores, much less every retail store, pharmacy and gas station) but now it's cliche - the stuff of stand-up comedy routines that *everyone* understands, even if they are completely 'tape incompetent' (We've all seen it). I see a wide array of uselessly cheap shiny grey plastic (or even paper) so-called duct tapes, because manufacturers know that most people are aware of its reputation, but not its properties and use, and will buy anything that looks similar.
Too many of the posts sound like "Level 1 geek wannabes" Top quality gaffer tape (for example) may run up to $20 a roll, but it's still pennies per job and it'll handle jobs the plastic stuff won't (including things you wouldn't expect - it's often better for sealing leaks than duct tape, which studies have shown to be the worst option for sealing ducts) I carry top notch gaffer tape in my house and car, not duct tape. I also keep countless other plastic tapes (packing tapes, stranded tapes, etc.) that have greater strength and other properties. Nowadays 'moving' and packing supplies are widely stocked.
Every geek should be able to improvise, true, but they should also have a fine understanding of the fine points of common tapes. It's the difference between success and failure for those who actually improvise instead of imagining doing it. 95% of the time, a top quality gaffer tape will beat the pacts off duct tape, but the guy in the article knows the duct tape mystique will sell where genuine gaffer tape quality won't.
The one true advantage of duct tape is that it is somewhat more widely available, in the stores and in your friend's closets. In the 70s, masking tape was everywhere and the duct tape crowd knew masking tape would quickly fail, if it worked at all, for most jobs where duct tape works great- but geek-wannabes and kids used masking tape for every job, and considered themselves clever. A slight edge in availability does not make it any better or less ignorant a default choice. Today, duct tape occupies the place in the market that masking tape once did: a passable cure-all for those who don't know better options exist or can't be bothered to think ahead and stock them.
I carry about a 25 cm of duct tape in my wallet, wrapped around my credit card. Besides being useful in the case of an automotive hose burst or embarrassing pants-split (on the inside of the fabric, dum dum), it also discourages me from using my credit card. Which is a good thing.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
When watching the Indy 500, I saw pit crews sealing up the (bent) cars with "200 mph racers tape".
Now what NASA needs is 600+ mph racers tape, for the shuttles.
When I saw Macguyver use duct tapes to fix things and tie bad guys' hands, I said, "hey, that's pretty useful." Throughout jr. high and high school, I carried duct tape wrapped around a poker card in my wallet. And I used it, too, and had to refill now and then, and the pesky part was trying to figure out whether I wanted to empty out the card before refilling or just refill right over it. I can't believe some guy is gonna get a patent for commercializing such a simple idea.